I now have six month's access to Fold3 military records and today I was researching my husband's third great-grandfather.
William Nelson, Jr.
(sometimes spelled Nielson) was born June 2, 1760 in Fishkill
Landing, Westchester, Dutchess Co, NY and died June 27, 1842 in
Stoney Creek, Saltfleet Twp, Lincoln Co, Ontario, Canada.
On March 11, 1777 at
age 17 he joined the 5th New York Regiment of the
Continental Army under Col. DuBois. It was organized in June 1776
from men of Orange and Ulster counties. He may have served with the
5th as a drummer boy at age 16.
As a private his
salary was 6 2/3 dollars a month. Records show him 'in the field'
starting from March 11, 1777.
Muster rolls records
in 1777 show he was present on duty in March, July, September, and
December but absent on November 1.
In 1778 in January
he was on command but deserted February 1 through 8. In March 1778 he
was 'confined.' May through June he was in Peeksville; July 22
through September 12 he was at Camp White Plains “in the field”;
August and September he was still at White Plains; November and
December 1778 he was on duty in “Scholrry” [Schoharie].
January and February
1779 he was in Cobes Kill; May he was in Johns Town and Canajoharrie;
he spent the summer in Easton; and October and November at Morris
Town, NY.
He was mustered out
on January 6, 1780.
What does this mean?
The 5th
New York Regiment under Captain John Johnson and Col. Lewis DuBoys
were involved with the Battle of the Hudson Highlands. They were
garrisoned at Fort Montgomery in the Hudson Highlands in early 1777.
On October 6, 1777 they were attacked by 2,100 British troops. The
5th Regiment, with the help of the militia, held off
multiple British attacks before the American forces were overrun,
with 98 out of 312 men from the 5th killed or captured. The survivors
joined Brigadier General George Clinton in pursuit of the British.
The winter of 1778
was the “Little Ice Age” winter. The troops wintered in Fishkill
in brutal conditions, the men scanty clothed and suffering. William
deserted February 1 and was apprehended February 8 and spent March in
confinement.
The regiment camped
at White Plains in the summer of 1778.
The Loyalists and
Native Americans attacked and decimated small settlements in
Cobeskill and Cherry Valley, NY in July 1778. General Washington was
determined to move against the hostile Indians. He wrote General
Sullivan that the objective was “the total destruction and
devastation of their settlements, and the capture of as many
prisoners of every age and sex as possible.” Sullivan was to bring
total ruin to the Indian settlements to guarantee America's future
security. Sullivan would lead brigades out of Easton, PA and up the
Susquehanna Valley while Clinton brought 1,600 men west from
Canajoharie, NY to join with them. They would met at an Indian
village at Tioga, then march through Iroquois territory. The
Sullivan-Clinton Campaign was waged in 1779. The 5th
Regiment took part.
Returning to
Pompton, NJ they were reviewed by General George Washington.
Luckily, William he
was discharged from the service on January 6, 1780. Because the 5th
Regiments spent the winter of 1779-80 at Jockey Hollow in Morristown,
NJ during the coldest winter on record. The men had to build their
own log cabins and furniture. There were a dozen men to a cabin 14x15
feet. Snow storms left six foot snows; there were four storms in February and
six more in March. They men had one thread-bare blanket each. Food
could not be delivered. Men went for days without bread. They gnawed
on birch bark and ate their shoe leather. An officer killed and ate
his beloved dog. In 1780 the regiment arrived in West Point for
garrison duty.
In 1791 William
married Eunice Young and they had five children before immigrating to
Saltfleet, Ontario, sometime before 1802 when his son Joseph was
born. They had eleven children together, William died at age 82.
In 1842 Joseph's son
Aaron was born in Saltfleet but by 1871 was in Michigan were he married Harriet Scoville; their daughter was Charlotte Grace. Grace married John Oran O'Dell and
their daughter was Laura Grace who married Herman Bekofske--my father-in-law.
